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Green Arrow

For the Berlin Tagesspiegel, I’m writing a series of essays on DC super-heroes (and their surrounding fan culture). With this years‘ „Green Lantern“ movie and 2010’s bestselling „Blackest Night“ comic event / crossover, I thought it would be fun to read most of the „Green Lantern“ comics to bring me up to date.

15:‚Green Lantern: Mosaic‘ (uncollected, 18-volume comic series starring (Green Lantern) John Stewart, 1992/94, colorful and trippy, but not very good and not very important)

16:‚Justice League International‘ (funny and intelligent comic series with (Green Lantern) Guy Gardner as a foolish side character, 1988 to mid-90ies. I’ve read and enjoyed Volumes 1, 2 and 3 so far, and can recommend them: 4*, mostly)

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Crises, crossovers and big events: Green Lantern and the DC Universe, 1986 to the late 1990s (most of this is important… but with bad art, flat characters and not much fun):

[There are lots of issues missing from the collected editions. I’ve read all single issues – and I can recommend most of them. The one exception: You can quit with issue 155 and ignore the end and the ‚Ion‘ series. Nothing of consequence happens there. Make sure to read „Infite Crisis“ and the surrounding books, though: By then, the current ‚Green Lantern‘ series starring Hal Jordan was back, too.]

29: To understand side characters John Stewart and Donna Troy, you might be interested in their uncollected ‚Darkstars‘ series, 1992 to 1996. I haven’t read it and it doesn’t seem to be very good – but both characters are likeable.

[I am surprised how much I dislike the character of Hal Jordan, his girlfriends and Geoff John’s convoluted, dry and joyless storytelling.BUT: ‚Green Lantern Corps‘, the companion series, is one of the best DC comics right now. Read ‚Green Lantern’… if only to understand the madness, mayhem, drama and excitement of ‚Green Lantern Corps‘. It’s worth it… and both series get better if you read them together.]

47:‚Green Lantern: Rebirth‘ (2*, 2005, not a good starting point: it’s very complicated and convoluted. Start with ‚Secret Origin‘ (01) and ‚Emerald Twilight‘ (22)… or with 48:)